Jealousy

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Jealousy, by Ricardo Soltero-Brown featured three actors caught up in a love triangle at the 2018 Orlando Fringe.

Al (Colton Butcher) sits pensively on the floor in my sketch from “Jealousy.” He has had a crush on Celia (Cameron Gagne) since they were in school. Celia is sleek and aloof, and I like that fact that she was always sketching. Unfortunately, I never got to see what she was scratching on her sketch pad. Al was in the midst of explaining his feelings when Celia’s boyfriend, Gunnar (Jack Kelly) entered the room. He was self-absorbed yet possessive when he realized that Al was making moves on his girl.

Celia didn’t discourage Al, instead basking in the attention of both men who acted like sophomoric boys as they battled for her attention. I don’t understand why he didn’t just leave, but I suppose it would have been a much shorter play had he been that reasonable.

Directed by Jeremy Seghers, Jack came across as a self-absorbed jock mostly concerned with his own looks. Celia was just a prize for his self-absorbed ego. Gunner on the other hand seemed sincere in his desire for Celia until he doesn’t get his way. Then he came across as a spoiled brat not getting the toy he wanted.

Love came across as a depressing wasted emotion.

Orlando Director’s Forum

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I went to the Orlando Director’s Forum at Valencia College East Campus (701 N Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando, Florida 32825). The forum featured a group of Orlando’s most stylistically diverse stage. This was a great opportunity to hear unique perspectives on inspiration, casting, rehearsal process, trouble-shooting, and overall creative process of directing. Seth Kubersky hosted a moderated discussion followed by a questions and answers with attendees.

The event featured (in alphabetical order)…

Rob Winn Anderson: Consulting Artistic Director – Garden Theatre

Mike Carr: Artistic Director – SAK Comedy Lab

John DiDonna: Program Chair of Theater – Valencia College, Director/Creator – Phantasmagoria

Pam Harbaugh: Director – Theater on the Edge

Beth Marshall: Producing Artistic Director/Theatre Artist – Beth Marshall Presents

Eric Pinder: Director in Residence – Opera Orlando

Donald Rupe: Director of Theatre – Central Florida Community Arts

Jeremy Seghers: Independent Producer and Director

I love these kinds of events because listening to these directors talk about the creative process reminds me that all the arts share the same creative challenges. It offered inspiration to keep sketching and painting despite any setbacks. I have seen and admired the work of each of these directors in turn as I sketch the arts scene around Orlando. Orlando has such a vibrant theater community since so man actors come to Orlando to work for the theme parks. Those rolls offer limited artistic challenges, so they are always looking for more edgy options to test their chops.

Jeremy Seghers hosts a public interview program at Urban Rethink

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Urban Re-Think (625 E
Central Blvd. in Thornton Park) used to be the cultural epicenter of downtown Orlando. It was a collaborative workspace, event space and  offered all around
great community programing.  Innovative and experimental programs were tested there each week. In this case, theater produce and director Jeremy Seghers interviewed people in front of a studio audience. The set up was simple, a floor lamp a microphone on a foot stool and two bar stools.

In this sketch, Jeremhy is talking to Darren McDaniel, the founding Director of Urban Re-Think. It was an informal chance to share stories. At the time Darren was having a mural added to the interior of Urban Re-Think based on a drawing done by a very young niece GraciAnn. It was a quirky drawing of a character done in yellow crayon with big eyes. Darren planned to get large mechanical googly eyes which would move. Called the Audacity of Play, the yellow character had a hexagonal head with a mad know of yellow hair, and spiraling yellow hands. The mural was created by Orlando artist, Carolyn Schultz. The functional googly eyes were concocted by Urban Re-Think resident
creative, Kathryn Neel, and empowered by Zach from Hicks Electric.

Urban Re-Think closed down in 2013 and sadly GraciAnne’s mural is no longer gracing it’s walls. Many co-working spaces, studios and creative/tech networking events have cropped up since Urban Rethink was closed but I can attest that the magic created there has not been replicated in any one venue. Though the city continues to grow, I see its cultural heart shrinking.

Ghost and Funeral Party at ME Theater.

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Producer Jeremy Seghers presents Ghost and Funeral Party which are two one act plays by Ashleigh Ann Gardner.  When the audience enters the theater,  Petra (Monica Mulder) is asleep on her couch while music fills the space. She woke and started to tidy up her art studio until she finally started working on a  painting. I admired all the sketchbooks, and the loose references strewn about the studio. For me it was a familiar scene. Monica confided to me before the show that the painting on the easel was by her mother and the photos around the studio are her own. Her quiet moment of creation is interrupted by a loud knock on her door which caused her to spill coffee all over her blouse. A
strange coincidence of fate brought neurotic postal courier Lyle (Ricardo Soltero-Brown) to her
apartment door.

In the awkward exchange that followed, it became clear that these two knew each other. It turned out that they had been friends who had had a spontaneous sexual encounter in a closet at a wedding, though Petra was engaged to be married to Lyle’s friend. After that Petra ghosted Lyle. Ghosting wasn’t a term I was familiar with, but it means leading somebody on before cutting off all contact rather than explaining why the relationship might not work. Lyle stayed to demand an
apology from Petra, using every avenue available to him, including relating their story to a
male model named Sebastian (Jamie Roy). Sebastian turned out to be a self-indulgent prick, dignity is lost, and
Lyle and Petra find themselves wondering if two impossibly flawed people
might actually be good together. I of course felt a warm glow hoping that an artist might actually find happiness in this flawed world.

The second play, Funeral Party, actually starred the playwright, Ashleigh Ann Gardner as Gwen. She and Trip (Jon Robert Kress) sneak into a crematorium to mourn the death of their best friend, Clay (Jamie Roy on the gurney.) Clay’s
sudden suicide has Trip reeling with guilt, but has left Gwen detached
and distracted. What was meant as a playful night’s adventure turned into a night of personal regrets and revelations. 

They turn to a list they’ve compiled to keep them on
track for the evening: drinks, Chinese food, dancing, coffee. To  lighten the mood, the two put on birthday caps and even put a cap on the lifeless Clay. When Gwen becomes
reluctant to proceed with the evening’s planned events, a dark secret
about her relationship with Clay is brought to light.

This play was hard hitting and unexpected. When Gwen was forced by Trip to touch the lifeless body, she broke down with such a wail of sorrow that cut me to the core. She fell to the floor. I have heard so many stories of the sorrow that filled the Beardall Center after families were told of the loss of sons and daughters after the Pulse Nightclub massacre. Ashley’s performance brought that flood of sorrow back. Guilt always follows a suicide but Gwen’s guilt had deeper roots. In an emotional exchange Gwen confessed that she loved Trip and that offered some hope and solace in their darkest hour.


I left the theater feeling a sense of pride and joy at getting to see these two plays by a talented local playwright. The second play truly struck me to the core and the first gave me the voyeuristic satisfaction of seeing an artist open herself to find happiness.


Ghost and Funeral Party runs:

February 22-24, 8:00 p.m.
February 25, 3 p.m.
at ME Theatre
1300 La Quinta Dr #3, Orlando, FL 32809

Tickets are $18

Drum Schtick was a 50 hour drumming marathon.

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As part of Art in Odd Places, Brian Feldman performed at a drum kit in front of City Hall for 50 hours straight. Of course, part of that performance included eating and sleeping on the drums. I had signed up to volunteer on Saturday at 7 PM so I returned for a second sketch. The idea behind volunteers was that they would be sure the live stream camera was safe and answer any questions from passers by.

Pam Schwartz walked with me to the location along with Sprout, her scraggly-haired pup. Orange Avenue was a buzz as the clubs geared up for the weekend night of debauchery. Sprout was excited to discover all the new smells. I sat much closer to the percussive noise this time around. Brian told me that earlier in the day a huge gust of wind had lifted up the entire tent and dashed it against the flag poles to his left. Jeremy Seghers has a video of the incident. Brian’s camera was covered with a plastic bag to protect it from the rain so it didn’t catch a thing.

A mom and her son stopped to listen. The young boy wanted to perform and Brian let him sit down and start drumming. This Tom Sawyering allowed Brian a chance to get up and stretch his legs. The mom sat with Pam and told her all about each of her pet cats.

Brian now resides in Washington DC. I let him know that I would be sketching in DC the next day. He suggested I see an exhibit of moving light displays called Lumia by Thomas Wilfred (1889–1968). These mesmerizing displays all predate the digital age and are created by translucent objects and refracted light that display ever-changing colored forms against a black background. They resemble Aurora Borealis, but are more complex and ever-changing. One display had just a slight gap in the side which allowed a glimpse of the inner mechanical workings.

Red Black and Ignorant at Valencia College.

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Red Black and Ignorant written by Edward Bond is the first installment of a war trilogy. The play introduces Monster, (Daniel Cooksley) an inhuman being who presents the life that he did
not get to live because he was aborted and burnt to death in the nuclear global bombings. Killed within his mother’s womb, the play reveals the
world which would have awaited the unborn child: a post-apocalyptic
society of destruction and war.

The venue was a small circular area with cement benches. The cast uses the benches and the walkway leading to the site. The audience will be seated outside the circle. One cast member saw an animal move in the distance. She said it was the size of a raccoon but might be a possum. All the flashlights surveyed the edge of the woods. The wildlife watched the play unfold from a safe distance.

Daniel is the actor who played my part in O-Town: Voices from Orlando written and directed by David Lee. We hugged warmly as we waited for the rest of the cast to arrive. Jeremy Seghers is directing Red Black and Ignorant. He has a keen eye for staging plays in unexpected venues. He arrived carrying a pile of military clothing. He also had make up for Daniel. Daniel had to to wear colored contacts and black charred makeup. At the start of the play, the entire cast shined flashlights on Daniel while chanting an ominous hum. Daniel crawled up out of an imaginary pile or rubble. Jeremy explained that the set piece is almost done.

The mother of the monster (Blaise Terese Vance) delivered a moving monologue while her wispy frame was being lifted on the shoulders of the monster. She illuminated her own face from below with her flashlight. An imagined lover of the monster (Alyssa Zabel) spoke of what he might have become and seemed oblivious to his twisted self. The son of the Monster (Sean Kemp) found a woman (Anissa Hernandez) trapped under rubble. She screams for help but he realizes that her job would open up were she to perish. He feigns to help but leaves saying he would find help. His father comes across his son as he is debating the woman’s fate. The father takes control of the situation and saves her. While chastising his son. The best position the son manages to find is in the military. He embraces the role. His position gives him a place of power over the monster. This father son relationship was destined to be tragic.

This play explores issues of conformity, social morality, and ongoing
conflict between the individual and society, giving the story a terrifyingly
relevant and timeless tone.

Being an immersive, site-specific work, this is an outdoor show held in
a natural environment. I was advised to bring bug spray which was helpful.  The audience is advised to check in at the box office for a short,
escorted walk to the site. Walking shoes are advised.  Late seating cannot be accommodated.  It is advised to arrive 30 minutes prior to show time. This production will not have an intermission.

What:  Red Black and Ignorant.

Where:  Valencia East Campus
701 N Econlockhatchee Trail, Orlando, FL

 Show dates:

Thursday, November 9, 2017   7:30pm

to 8:45pm

Friday, November 10, 2017      7:30pm

to 8:45pm

Saturday, November 11, 2017  7:30pm

to 8:45pm

Sunday, November 12, 2017    7:30pm

to 8:45pm

Monday, November 13, 2017   7:30pm

to 8:45pm

Tickets: $12 General Ticketing; $10 Valencia students/staff/alumni and seniors.

Contact Name: Valencia College Box Office

Contact Email:  boxoffice@valenciacollege.edu/arts

Contact Phone: (407) 582-2900

This is Our Youth.

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This is Our Youth, written by Kenneth Lonergan is running at Macbeth Studio, (37 North Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL) through February 25th. Billed as a comedy, the show, directed by Jeremy Seghers is actually quite dramatic. Set in a 1980s NYC apartment, the show looks at the relationship between two young men, one a domineering former high school jock, and part time pot dealer named Dennis (Jack Kelly) and the other, Warren (Austin DavisJack Kelly) just trying to escape from his father.

The play is set in Dennis’s apartment. The theater is actual a photographer’s studio on the 9th floor of a downtown office building. The audience watches the scenes unfold in the round since they are seated along a wall and in seats lining the other side of the room as well. David Horgan on of “Dem Guys” the hardcore Fringe patrons, sat beside me and we debated about the year the play was set in. The rotary phone predated cell phones. A TV guide on the floor placed the time around 1982. Books on the bookshelf further verified the detective work.

The play began with Dennis sprawled on his mattress watching TV.  The intercom rang repeatedly. He wanted to ignore it, but couldn’t. He buzzed up Warren, who had just left home and hoped to find a place to crash for a bit. Dennis buzzed with adolescent energy. As the two threw a football around the apartment, Warren managed to throw the ball into the book as breaking a sculpture that Dennis had of his girl friends. Dennis lost it, and wrestled Warren by the neck and punched him when he was down. The entire friendship was build around his bullying and belittling Warren.

Dennis was also schemer and he arranged to sell of his friends collection of vintage toys to raise cash. When he was gone, One of Dennis’s girlfriends,  Jessica (Monica Mulder) came up to the apartment. She was beautiful and Warren stumbled all over himself trying to impress her. His attempts were comical. Of course I was rooting for the geek to get the girl. Through all the awkward exchanges they were surprised that they have very common tastes. Warren stole money from his father when he left home, and he decided to use that money to take Jessica on a expensive night on the town, including an expensive hotel stay.

After the date Jessica stopped by the apartment a second time to see Warren. Although it was clear these two cared about each other, they started fighting. Intimacy sparked before they knew each other, so they were both defensive, trying to maintain boundaries. Warren’s favorite possession was a baseball hat from his grand father. Of all his possessions he asked his friend Dennis not to sell the hat. Jessica knew how important the hat was, and when Warren offered her anything for love, she asked for the hat. He was glad to give it to her. But he couldn’t find it. He searched the apartment in desperation. It was gone. So was any hope of winning Jessica’s love. They exchanged bitter words and were driven apart by a hat. It was painful to watch.

When Warren is bullied by his friend Dennis in the third act, I kept hoping that he would fight back. He would loose a physical confrontation but he needed to stand his ground. Friendships and relationships seemed to be about nothing but taking and steeling from one another. For a comedy, this is a dark view of the world. Politics however imply that this is the American way.

Remaining show dates are, February 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25
All performances @ 8:00PM

Tickets available.

Auditions for “Dracula” by Steven Dietz.

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Auditions at Carmine Boutique (2708 N Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, Florida) were a grim and macabre affair. A skinned raccoon was draped over an ottoman. Skulls of every shape and size were tucked away in a curio cabinet. Outside it was pouring rain. Lightning and thunder sparked life in the cadavers on display. This is probably the type of scene that runs through every actors mind as they face the horror of a cold read. Many of the women wore black dresses as if for a funeral. A store salesman offered to show me any item up close. This place really is a sketchers paradise.

Actors filled out forms and then waited for their moment to get on stage. Groups of about ten actors at a time were called to the back room. When they returned they were pumped for in formation about what by in the back of the store. Some actors were asked to stay, while others faced the elements as they rushed back to their cars on this grey miserable and wet day. When the potent-is cast had been narrowed down, all the actors sat in the back room, Edwardian Bar and scenes were rehearsed, with each actors trying out different rolls.

This October, Jeremy Seghers will direct Steven Dietz‘s adaptation of “Dracula” at Carmine Boutique. Staged in an Edwardian fetish bar surrounded by oddities and antiques, this “Dracula” is dark and creepy and, unlike other versions, stays very faithful to Bram Stoker’s novel. This macabre and twisted tale will be told in a twisted and unique boutique. This is the show to catch this October as we approach Halloween.

Tickets. 

Dates are: 

October 6, 2016 at 8pm

October 7, 2016 at 8pm

October 8, 2016 at 8pm

October 9, 2016 at 8pm

October 10, 2016 at 8pm

October 13, 2016 at 8pm

October 14, 2016 at 8pm

October 15, 2016 at 8pm

Dracula

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I went to Carmine Boutique (2708 N Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, Florida) to sketch auditions for Dracula. If you haven’t been to Carmine Boutique, you need to experience it for yourself. They have a wide assortment of the odd and macabre. Behind me were pickled baby pigs in jars, a skeleton in the corner was of Siamese twins. In the back of the store is this stage along with an Edwardian fetish bar. A large poster behind the stage had an average man and a tiny woman, no taller than the penguin pictured. The poster announced, “They are married” My own marriage was crumbling. It was pouring rain outside. The loud thunder rattled the oddities adding to the mood.

I got to see how different actors fleshed out the same parts. I don’t know how a director decides with so many talented options. Yet in some moments, an actor no longer seems to be acting. They are the character. I always fall in to I always fall in love with certain performances and I am hopeful to see them in the final production.

Jeremy Seghers will breathe
new life into Bram Stoker‘s Gothic horror classic with Steven
Dietz‘s critically acclaimed adaptation of Dracula. Set exclusively at
Carmine Boutique – an antiques, oddities, and taxidermy shop featuring
an Edwardian fetish club – this immersive staging will bring the count,
his brides, and the blood dangerously close to the audience. Due to the
intense nature of the production, no one under the age of 13 will be
permitted without a guardian. 

If you are a Halloween fanatic like myself, then this is the perfect way to warm up to the horrors of the season.

Tickets. 

Dates are: 

October 6, 2016 at 8pm

October 7, 2016 at 8pm

October 8, 2016 at 8pm

October 9, 2016 at 8pm

October 10, 2016 at 8pm

October 13, 2016 at 8pm

October 14, 2016 at 8pm

October 15, 2016 at 8pm

The Timucua White House is granted a Conditional Use Permit.

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Benoit Glazer and The Timucua Arts Foundation has been providing world class art and music to the Orlando community free of charge for a long while. In 2007 Benoit built a custom home that was built around an acoustically perfect music hall with two levels of balconies overlooking the stage. The living room concert venue is completely soundproof so that neighbors never hear the music. Dozens of performances happen each year, most of them free of charge. Guests bring wine and food to the venue for each concert which cultivates a true sense of a community potluck. The Timucua Arts Foundation, is a benefactor to cutting edge music organizations like the Accidental Music Festival and the Civic Minded 5. The White House has established itself as a culture beacon for the Central Florida Music scene.

The home is in an area zoned for residential use, so the Orlando Municipal Planning Board demanded that Benoit apply for a conditional use permit. That type of permit is typically issued when the city wants to allow an
activity beneficial to the community despite zoning restrictions. Without the permit, one of the
most enlightened cultural lights in Orlando
would be be extinguished. An online petition was established to try and save the White House. Over one hundred people signed it in the first hour. In all 832 people signed the petition.

At 8:30am on April 19th, Benoit and his wife Elaine Corrivev, sat in the City Counsel Chambers to hear the Planning Board’s verdict. The Chambers were packed full of supporters for this home spun cultural institution. Jeremy Seghers sat in the row in front of me and Diana Rodriguez Portillo sat next to me to chat. There were so many friends of the arts in the room. The chair, Jason Searl, said he had to abstain from the vote since his little daughter takes piano lessons at the Benoit’s house. He clearly couldn’t be impartial. With in a matter of minutes, the Conditional Use Permit was granted. There was an audible sigh of relief and then most of the people in the room got up to leave. Exited conversations began and the celebration continued just outside the chamber doors. The concerts will continue with some conditions: Glazer will have to
formalize a parking agreement with the city for use of nearby spaces at
Wadeview Park, limit attendance to 99 guests and guarantee events end by
10:30 p.m. In some small measure, the bureaucrats won, but music and art will continue to shine at the White House. 

This, we believe:

Art and music belong to everyone.

Art and music are the highest manifestation of our humanity.

Art and music should be enjoyed in the most intimate venue: the living room.

Every community is better when art and music are performed and nurtured within it.